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Whistle Stopper - Conquest (1937)
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $22.98
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Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Starring: Greta Garbo, Charles Boyer, Reginald Owen, Alan Marshal, Henry Stephenson
Directed By: Clarence Brown, Gustav Machatý
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301967143
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 6301967143
Label: MGM (Warner)
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Running Time: 113
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Theatrical Release Date: 1937-10-22
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Timeless Romance
Comment: Conquest is loosely based on fact, the story of Napoleon (Charles Boyer). Here we watch as he falls for a young countess (Greta Garbo), causes her to fall from grace by betraying her husband, and allows his love to ruin him as an emperor. The countess has a Nationalist's love for Poland and wishes for Napoleon to liberate her country. Her hero worship soon turns to undying love through his failure, exile, and unfaithfulness.
Garbo is luminous in this. None of her actions are overt but every one rings true; every scene is emotionally intense. I have never thought of her as any great beauty, but her talent makes her so. Paired with Boyer, the lovers make a quite plain couple, but their chemistry makes them lovely to watch.
The length of the film sounds much too long for a simple love story, but none of the time is wasted. Every scene has meaning and adds to the film.
Customer Rating:
Summary: MGM's Lavish "Prestige" Historical Drama From 1937
Comment: "Conquest", starring a radiant Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer in one of his best roles ever often suffers at the hands of critics because of the fact that it went down into history as one of MGM's biggest money losers for 1937 after a fortune had been lavished on it by the studio. Viewed today it is easily seen as one of MGM's regular prestige features during the 1930's achieved with lavish expenditure on stars, film personnel, costumes and sets designed to build on the studio's reputation for providing no expense spared entertainment of the first order. In the reviews at the time for Greta Garbo it was also regarded as something of a let down for this legendary actress after her classic performance in her previously acclaimed drama "Camille". "Conquest", comes across today as a classic example of lavish filmmaking from Hollywood's Golden Age and is a rare example of where Garbo's leading man had just as substantial a role as she did. Garbo and Charles Boyer, ideally cast as the Emperor Napoleon for which he rightly received an Academy Award Nomination as Best Actor, only teamed once on screen and both here give truly well thought out performances that stand the test of time. Certainly Garbo's Polish Noblewoman Marie Walewska might lack some of the impact of her earlier performance as the courtesan in "Camille", but it is still a beautifully wrought performance and her chemistry with Boyer is very evident in their scenes together.
The setting of "Conquest" is the winter of 1807 when Poland is in danger of being overrun by the Russians Cossack forces. Garbo plays Polish Countess Marie Walewska the young wife of Count Anastas Walewska (Henry Stephenson), whose ancestral home is pillaged by the Russion troops just as the Emperor Napoleon is fast approaching in his all conquering march across Europe. Marie holds a deep seated fascination for this enigmatic frenchman and she ventures out to Napoleon's camp to see for herself this new "Alexander the Great". Meeting the Emperor by chance the attraction between the two is instant but at this stage time is against any further development between the two. At a later reception Marie and her husband get to formally meet the Emperor and his attraction to the young Countess is plain for all to see. The Polish heads of state see a way of securing Napoleon's help in freeing Poland from the burdensome attacks of Russia and ask Marie for the honour of her country to "sacrifice", herself to the Emperor's passion for the sake of Poland's future. At first this proposal is rejected out of hand however Marie decides to visit the Emperor to see if some other "arrangement", can be worked out. Napoleon however is not used to not having his way in all things and demands the possession of Marie body and soul in return for his help in creating a new free Poland. Her initial distaste for this arrangement however changes and she finds herself succumbing to the frenchman's ardent passion. Marie gives herself to the Emperor however it costs her her marriage to Count Walewska who now considers her a soiled woman and he seeks an annulment of their marriage in Rome. Marie menawhile begins to fully fall in love with the Emperor and when he obtains a divorce from the Empress Joesphine she has hopes of truly becoming his legal wife. However Napoleon has his eyes set on marrying into the Hapsburg royalty and Marie learns the hard way of her real "status", as his mistress. Marie also gives birth to the Emperor's son (Scotty Beckett), and from a distance watches as the Emperor's fortunes begin to vanish and defeat inevitable. Abandoned by his Hapsburg wife and by most of France Napoleon is exiled to the island of Elba and the ever devoted Marie travels to his prison island with their child and provides him with the only comfort he has apart from the total love of his devoted mother Madame Bonaparte (Dame May Whitty). However ambition still lies restlessly in the Emperor's heart and he makes his escape from the island to experience 100 days of glory again as Emperor before his eventual defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. This time taking no chances the English place him under guard and prepare to ship him off to the grim island fortress of St Helena. As one last gesture of her undying love for the Emperor and the man Marie arranges a meeting just prior to his departure so that he can see his young son who still does not know that the Emperor is his father. Together they spend some poignant time together after which Marie witnesses history in the making as Napoleon is rowed out to the ship that will take him to his exile on St. Helena and away from her love forever.
Garbo's film productions grew increasingly lavish as the 1930's decade progressed and with "Conquest", loosely based on a novel by Waclaw Gasiorowski, she took on one of her great historical characters in Polish Countess Marie Walewska who holds the fate of Poland in her hand as her country faces the onslaught of Napoleon's forces currently sweeping Europe. As was her way with the figures of tragedy she so often specialised in Garbo manages to instill in Marie elements of vulnerability, self sacrifice and inner strength and she delivers a most interesting performance here considering that Charles Boyer as Napoleon really did have the more colourful role. Boyer really is perfectly cast as one of his own native countries greatest leaders and his resemblance to Napoleon in every way here is remarkable. His is a truly standout performance from this film and he dominates every scene he is in even with the attention stealing Garbo as his leading lady. Befitting an "A" class production "Conquest", is peopled by a superb supporting cast headed by Henry Stephenson as Garbo's much older husband who abandons her when she makes the sacrifice for Poland by becoming the Emperor's mistress, Dame May Whitty as Napoleon's sympathetic mother Madame Mere who takes a liking to Marie despite her status as "Mistress", Maria Ouspenskaya as the eccentric card playing Countess Walewska who in some amusing moments manages to put the arrogant Emperor in his place, and Reginald Owen as the wily minister Tallyrand who drives Napoleon on to more and more wars and conquests. As with all Garbo vehicles and having been put into pre production by MGM legend Irving Thalberg the production side boasts the best that MGM had to offer in all areas. Designer Adrian, in a lead up to his amazing work on MGM's lavish "Marie Antoniette", the following year excels in his magnificant period costumes for Garbo and the other major performers. Karl Freunds for once standing in for Garbo's favourite lighting photographer William Daniels, fills the screen with his stunning camera work and the films rich historical setting is a perfect showcase for his lighting giving the whole film, despite its perhaps unfortunate lack of technicolour, a beautiful shadowy black grey and white hue that shows every element of this production at its very best. Clarence Brown who had directed Garbo before in the acclaimed version of "Anna Karenina", keeps this massive story moving and provides a proper balance between the historical occurences during the period that helped shape much of modern Europe, and with the romantic element between Napoleon and Marie Walewska.
To say "they dont make films like this any more", would have to be an understatement. Films like "Conquest", reveal the studio system at its absolute peak when the expertise behind the cameras was just as important as the stars. Greta Garbo certainly had better roles than she did here in "Conquest", but enough of her legendary acting expertise and screen presence is on show here to see why she was the jewel in MGM Studios prestigious crown. Charles Boyer and her make a potent screen team and help to give "Conquest", a lasting quality which despite its failure at the box office in 1937 has allowed it to be revived many times since as a classic example of what Hollywood was capable of acheiving during the 1930's . If you like lavish historical dramas with expert attention to detail in all things then you cannot find better than the Clarence Brown directed "Conquest", starring MGM legend Greta Garbo in her last dramatic performance. Enjoy
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice old-fashioned historical romance!
Comment: Charles Boyer and Greta Garbo play opposite each other as, respectively, the great Napoleon Bonaparte and a Polish noblewoman who captures his heart. Garbo is stunning: this is her at the height of her sensuality, while Boyer's Napoleon is a fiery, arrogant, magnetic character who gains our sympathy by the film's end. A grand, old-fashioned romance that pays viewers off quite nicely. Recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: BOYER IS BRILLIANT
Comment: As Garbo's last dramatic role, this is often included in the retrospectives that have kept her genius visible to new generations. For the only time in Garbo's starring career, her male opposite had a more interesting role than her own in CONQUEST. Charles Boyer, as Napoleon was the flame around which his Polish mistress, Marie Walewska, fluttered in this Samuel Hoffenstein-Salka Viertel-S.N. Behrman script; their doomed affair is superbly acted by both stars under Clarence Brown's able direction. However, it DOES lack the bravura scenes which made CAMILLE so special. Although she looks utterly beautiful, Garbo seems a bit exhausted - like she was still recovering from her extraordinary previous performance. Expensively mounted by Bernard Hyman, this film didn't earn back its cost in America, but it did beautifully overseas. The supporting cast is mostly excellent; it includes Dame May Whitty, Leif Erickson, George Zucco and the great Maria Ouspenskaya.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Old silver screen romance at its best
Comment: I was first introduced to "Conquest" in the Medved Brothers' tome "The Hollywood Hall of Shame" in which the movie gained an honorary mention as being the biggest money-loser of 1937. So when I saw it I was unexpectedly surprised- in fact I really liked it. "Conquest" stars not only the fabulous Scandinavian woman of mystery, Greta Garbo, but 1930s French matinee idol Charles Boyer (of "Gaslight" and "Algiers" fame) in a very entertaining and sudsy costume romance about Napoleon and a Polish countess, Marie Walewska. It's Old Silver Screen Romance at its best; gorgeous actors, spectacular sets and costumes, melodramatic delivery, violins, convenient thunderstorms, and loads of corny dialogue ("Are you real, or born of a snow drift?") You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll pine for the good ol' days when movie actors actually had charisma!
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